Preliminary Task - Pre-Production

Our initial stimulus was 'A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character with whom s/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue'. As our stimulus was so vague, it was quite difficult to think of an idea, but also gave us a lot of scope when choosing what to film.

As a group, we decided that we wanted to create a romantic comedy (of sorts), so we brainstormed lots of different ideas for a romantic comedy. After some deliberation, we chose to create a disastrous date, definitely showing more comedy than romance. Once we had chosen our idea, we started to draw up a storyboard of how we visualised the scene. The storyboard can be seen below.

 

Storyboard

 

When we created the storyboard, we also chose to make our shot list, as we found this was the most suitable time to do it. The shot list can be seen below.

 

Once we had created the storyboard and shot list, we cast the roles within the group. As Chloe had had some previous experience with creating film, we chose her to be director. We chose Grace to be Assistant Director as she would also be starring in the film as the Waitress, so could give an actors opinion on how to improve the film. I was chosen to be Production Manager as I was heavily involved in the organising of the film, and Maisie was chosen to be Camera Man, as none of us had had experience with all of the equipment before, so it was good to have someone learn from scratch. Although Maisie was the main Camera Man, we all used the camera at certain points to create different shots, so that we were all able to start learning how to use the equipment.

 

Our next step in the process was to create the script, which can be seen below.

Blind Date

by

Production Team B

 

INT. RESTAURANT – EVENING

A rather sophisticated restaurant in Marlow. It’s about 6:00 in the evening. The restaurant is fairly busy, with people drinking their beverages, and eating their meals.

One of these people is a YOUNG MAN. The YOUNG MAN is sat waiting nervously at one of the tables. He checks his watch, whilst soft music, probably from a piano plays in the background.

At this point, a YOUNG WOMAN walks through the door. The YOUNG WOMAN appears over dressed for the occasion, and a large portion of the restaurant stare at her. The YOUNG WOMAN eyes over the restaurant, before spotting the YOUNG MAN and going over. The YOUNG MAN stands to greet the YOUNG WOMAN.

YOUNG MAN

Hi, I’m Edward, but you may call me Ed.

YOUNG WOMAN puts yellow marigold glove on her right hand in a comedic fashion, with a snapping noise created when she lets go of the glove against her skin. The YOUNG WOMAN then offers her hand to the YOUNG MAN,

YOUNG WOMAN

Well, my name’s Guinevere, but you can’t call me Gwen.

YOUNG MAN awkwardly shakes hand of YOUNG WOMAN. YOUNG MAN sits in his chair. Meanwhile, YOUNG WOMAN stands waiting by her own chair, until YOUNG MAN realises, stands up and pushes the chair of the YOUNG WOMAN in, however too far, and created a large noise. They now sit, staring awkwardly

YOUNG WOMAN

Well, I had an absolutely diabolical time getting here. I had to get on a bus, with other people. I had to pay, whilst all these, what I call elderly simply got on without spending a penny. It was an outrage I tell you.

The voice of the YOUNG WOMAN becomes muffled as the YOUNG MAN zones out of the conversation, completely unaware that the YOUNG WOMAN is still talking to him.

YOUNG WOMAN

What do you think?

YOUNG MAN

Um, no?

YOUNG WOMAN

Do you mean to say that you don’t like my hair?

YOUNG MAN

Err…

At this point, a WAITRESS walks in, ready to take the orders of the YOUNG MAN and YOUNG WOMAN.

WAITRESS

Are you ready to order?

YOUNG MAN

Err, steak and chips.

WAITRESS

And for you?

YOUNG WOMAN

Do you have anything meat free, dairy free, calorie free, gluten free, and nut free? Oh, and fat free.

WAITRESS

I can offer you water, madam?

YOUNG WOMAN

You are unbelievable! You should cater for everyone, especially seeing as I’m not even that fussy. I could name several establishments who are able to meet my needs.

The YOUNG MAN sneaks out of the restaurant, out of view of the YOUNG WOMAN, who is well involved in her argument with the WAITRESS.

YOUNG WOMAN

Have you never heard of (using a bad French accent) ‘Ipsum Dolor’, the famous French restaurant in Paris? I’m certain my date here can assure you. Ed? Ed? Edward?

The YOUNG MAN can be seen from the window running at high speed from the restaurant, and the YOUNG WOMAN can be seen at the window, calling for the YOUNG MAN to come back.

YOUNG WOMAN

Edward!

 

An important decision we had to make was where to shoot the film. In our script, we had said that we wanted to set the film in a restaurant, which would be very difficult to get permission for in the short space of time we had. Therefore, we made the decision to film in a classroom in our school, and spend time dressing the set to make it look like a restaurant.

 

Throughout the Pre-Production process, we picked up any props we felt we would need along the way rather than doing it all at once, as we felt this to be a more efficient way of going about things.

We chose to cast our friends to be the roles of Guinevere and Edward as we knew of their acting abilities, and allowed us to film in school rather than finding a location outside of the school environment. We also chose to have 4 extras in our film in order to make the restaurant appear busy, like a usual restaurant environment.

Our penultimate task to create the treatment and the risk assessment. Although usually the treatment is created at the beginning, it had been an ongoing part of the task for our group, as we added to it once we knew more information about our film. The treatment can be seen below.

Film Treatment

Film Title: Blind Date

Production Name: Production Team B

Film Duration: 1-2 Minutes

Roles

Director: Chloe Kennedy

Assistant Director: Grace Chambers

Production Manager: Andrea Simpson

Camera Man: Maisie Baker

Characters

Young Man: Jess Balmer

Young Woman: Claire Evans

Waitress: Grace Chambers

Costumes

Young Man

·         The Young Man will be dressed quite formally, however he won’t appear too overdressed. He will be wearing a shirt and tie, but not a full suit.

Young Woman

·         The Young Woman will be very overdressed, wearing clothes of a rather old fashioned style. She will wear a rather garish dress that is a bright colour. She will have very big hair, and her makeup will be very over the top, with bright red lips that aren’t very neat, with some on her teeth, and heavy eye makeup.

Synopsis:

A Young Man named Edward, around the age of 21, has been set up on a blind date by his friends. He knows very little about the Young Woman he will be meeting, with all he knows being that the Young Woman is of a similar age to him. The film is based around the idea of dating, and follows different couples as they go on dates across the world, showing the good and bad of dating in the modern day. Dating apps will be used to set up dates, as well as dates between long-time friends, blind dates, and speed dating. The film shows how dating differs greatly to that which was happening only 20 years ago. The film is based around the idea that it isn’t always love that brings us onto these dates any more.

Setting:

We have chosen to film our scenario in a room that will be dressed to look like a sophisticated restaurant, somewhere that the female character will look far to overdressed to be.

Props:

·         Yellow Marigold glove

·         Plates

·         Table cloth/s

·         Chairs

·         Glasses

·         Pen

·         Notepad

·         Napkins

·         Tie

·         Apron

·         Wine bottle

·         Feather boa

Lighting:

For the lighting, we have decided to use natural lighting from outside, as well as some lamps within the room to create the dim lighting you would find in a higher class restaurant. We were initially going to use the lights that are already in the ceiling of the room, however they give everything in the room a yellow tinge, which is not how we wanted the shot to look.

Sound:

We are going to try and use as many diegetic sounds as possible. For example, throughout the entire scene, soft music will play in the background, so they will be added during editing, however it will appear that the music was played whilst filming. Also, when the Young Woman enters the scene, as record scratch can be heard, which will also be added during post production whilst sound editing, however the actors in the scene will react to the sound, making it appear like it was in the scene the entire time.

Also, during post production, we will add a low volume sound of people talking to give the effect that the restaurant is rather busy, even if we only have a couple of extras. This sound can be recorded during filming, and then put on a loop throughout the scene, or it can be recorded after filming has taken place.

 

As this was our first risk assessment, we found it quite difficult to think of some of the risks we could encounter whilst filming, but after a lot of thinking, we managed to create a risk assessment. The risk assessment can be seen below.

 

 

Hazards	Person at Risk	Risk Control Measure	Risk	Comments
Lost Crew	Film Unit	Film unit must stay together at all times during filming, and head counts must be done before leaving a location, and when arriving at a new location.	Low	All Crew (Students) under 18 to apply to ALL hazards
Weather	Film Unit/Actors	Weather must be checked prior to filming so that correct precautions can be taken in terms of location and safety.	Low
First Aid	Film Unit/Actors	Production Manager must be responsible for access to all First Aid facilities and have all emergency contact numbers.	Low
Lack of Unit Organisation	Film Unit	Production Manager must oversee all tasks done by crew members. Crew must also be briefed about the day before filming commences.	Low
Running outside/chance of tripping	Actors (Young Man)	Check route of run before the run occurs. Production Manager must move all hazards on route before filming starts.	Medium
Using knives	Actors	Production Manager must oversee the use of knives (cutlery) whilst on set to prevent any injuries.	Low
Using water around electricity	Film Unit/Actors	Make sure that the bottle of water used in the scene is kept well away from the equipment used to film at all times.	Low/Medium
Injuries from trips, falls etc.	Film Unit/ Actors	Production Manager to ensure all equipment is safely out of the way of all members of cast and crew. Tripod must be watched and controlled, and when not in use, must be moved out of the way.	Low/Medium

Once we had finished all of the pre-production, we booked out all of the equipment we would need in order to film, including the DSLR camera, a tripod and a microphone, and we were then ready to shoot.